Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fact or state of being solitary, or alone, or without mate, partner, or companion, or of dwelling apart from others or by one's self; habitual retirement; solitude.
  • noun The state or character of being retired or unfrequented; solitude; seclusion: as, the solitariness of a wood.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Condition of being solitary.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or quality of being solitary.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the state of being alone in solitary isolation
  • noun a disposition toward being alone

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From solitary +‎ -ness.

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Examples

  • I may not deny but that there is some profitable meditation, contemplation, and kind of solitariness to be embraced, which the fathers so highly commended, [1562] Hierom, Chrysostom, Cyprian,

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • "L'Allegro"; [13] if he had said "solitariness," it would have been correct.

    Harvard Classics Volume 28 Essays English and American Various

  • He should have gained the state of solitariness which is a condition of life quite unlike any other.

    Essays Alice Christiana Thompson Meynell 1884

  • He should have gained the state of solitariness which is a condition of life quite unlike any other.

    The Spirit of Place and Other Essays Alice Christiana Thompson Meynell 1884

  • There is indeed a solitariness which is the condition of an individual soul's being, which no association with others can do away; but there is no reason why we should add to that burden of personality which the

    The Recreations of a Country Parson Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd 1862

  • “There was a grandeur in everything around, which gave almost a solemnity to the scene: a silence and solitariness which affected everything!

    Richard Henry Dana 2010

  • It was the beginning of a new and distinct social movement among the early Christians (a society which hitherto had been spreading in urban sites) and came to be known from this preference for solitariness (Greek: monachismos) as "monasticism."

    Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.: The Compelling Spiritual Discipline Of Asceticism Ph.D. Norris J. Chumley 2011

  • It was the beginning of a new and distinct social movement among the early Christians (a society which hitherto had been spreading in urban sites) and came to be known from this preference for solitariness (Greek: monachismos) as "monasticism."

    Norris J. Chumley, Ph.D.: The Compelling Spiritual Discipline Of Asceticism Ph.D. Norris J. Chumley 2011

  • Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the solitariness that reading can bring into a relationship, and wondering if perhaps it might be rewritten into a different story with a sweeter ending.

    We're Not on the Same Page, but That's OK Katherine Rosman 2012

  • Although Enos immediately fell in love with her character, the show's dark themes and Linden's solitariness — despite a loving fiancé Callum Keith Rennie and a teenage son — have sometimes been tough.

    The Killing's Mireille Enos: Arresting Beauty 2011

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